For Fall/Winter 2024-25, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana stripped their menswear back to its foundations. The show, titled “Sleek”, was staged in Milan as a near-monochrome procession: roughly four looks in five were black, with only pale grey, silver and the occasional flash of white to break the line.
Tailoring did the talking. Light, conical cape-blazers and cape-tuxedos, caban-style dinner jackets, sharp double-breasted suits and a black spencer worn over pleated trousers set the tone, while creamy white tuxedos with short jackets revealed pleated silk cummerbunds. Shirts were cut full, some with plunging necklines, others in sheer lace or with an Etonian collar.
The house's signatures were refined rather than repeated: silk lavallière ties, gavroche caps, smooth crepe, faux fur, knee-high patent leather boots and slippers finished with ribbon tassels. “It's important to tell the story of genuine elegance of hand-made, of sartorial art — they are facts, not words,” the designers said after the show. Sixty-two looks made the point with unusual restraint.
